On the morning of the fifth day, I was awoken by Rika, knocking at my provisional room in the clinic, with two bowls in hand.
“I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?”
I instantly grew tense; we were in the middle of a siege. What had happened? Was everyone alright? I jumped out of my bed as fast as I could, only to notice the smirk on Rika’s face.
“Relax, it’s nothing bad.”
Annoyed, I sat back down on my bed, stifling a yawn.
“The bad news then.”
“Last night their cannon overshot the wall right into our chicken coop.”
I shuddered slightly. The coop wasn’t too far away from here.
“And the good news?”
Rika looked down at the two bowls she was carrying and handed me one of them.
“Today’s chicken soup.”
That was indeed good news. We didn’t receive much meat in our daily siege rations, but today we were given a rich chicken soup. And honestly, ever since I took notice of my pregnancy, I couldn’t even stomach eggs. So, I actually welcomed the incoming lack of eggs throughout the winter.
That’s when I noticed that my bowl was way bigger than Rika’s own normal-sized portion… Does she think I have to eat for two (three) now? Even though I wasn’t pleased about the implication, I still happily ate my bowl. At the same time, Rika finished her own portion in just a few minutes. After which, she told me what had happened throughout the night.
And aside from the crushing slaughter of our poultry, nothing else happened. The Ibasans hadn’t changed their strategy. And the occasional arrow wounds that came in had all been handled by Benjamin.
“By the way, has anything happened between you two?”
I nearly choked on a big piece of chicken breast.
“Cough, cough”
Rika handed me a mug of water, which I used to flush the chicken down my throat.
“Sigh, no, nothing really.”
I tried to sound confident, but of course, Rika wasn’t convinced.
“You sure you two seem different somehow?”
“I’m sure.”
For a few seconds, there was just the sound of my spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl clean before Rika dropped her pretense and asked what she wanted to ask.
“…You know it’s normal for couples to fight a bit and…”
“Rika?!”
“Okay, calm down, I was just joking, maybe...”
“We are just friends, okay. Just friends. Nothing else.”
“For friends, you two are rather distant. Ever since the siege started, I haven’t even seen you two talk with each other.”
“Why do you have to know everything? I can have at least a few secrets from you, no?”
“I can’t help you if you don’t…”
“I don’t want your help, I…! I don’t need it, I’m not a little kid.”
I clutched the wooden spoon so hard I could hear it begin to crack between my fingers. I forced myself to let go and put the bowl and spoon on my nightstand. Rika seemed a bit taken aback at my outburst, but still kept stealing glances at my belly. It had already grown to a size where it would have been easily noticed if I wore anything tight. So, my wardrobe had grown rather baggy over the weeks. Before the end of next month, I will have to get new ones. Then even Rosalia would know about it.
With every week, they got harder and harder to hide. My feet have begun to swell, and my chest has also grown larger. They have become annoyingly tender, and even the areola has become a bit darker. I put a hand onto my abdomen and complained to myself,’ You two better be cute and healthy, or I will really go crazy.’
“It’s not Benjamin.”
“Huh?”
Rika played dumb, of course, so I repeated it again to avoid any more misunderstandings. I don’t want anyone to think I’m into little boys.
“It’s not his. But this is all for now. I will tell you the rest when I’m ready; just don’t come up with any more ridiculous theories. The Boy is just fifteen, Rika. Fifteen. I’m not going after a child.”
Rika finally showed a bit of surprise on her face, only for it to immediately vanish. I had hoped to see her utterly flabbergasted at being found out, but alas. Maybe next time.
I somehow feel that my luck has been terrible ever since I came into this world. I get dragged around naked by Joel, I get pregnant immediately after just one time of doing it, and today, after enduring Rika’s nosy questions and probing in the morning, Jack came to visit in the afternoon. I really have shit luck.
But thankfully, even Jack wasn’t in the mood to pull any pranks during a siege… right? At least today, he would keep it together... right? Ugh, who am I kidding? I bet he is already planning something again. His annoyingly cheerful voice resonated throughout the empty clinic.
“Hi, Ruby, how is your first siege?”
“Sigh, take a guess. I’m constantly on edge. Everyone is annoyingly optimistic. And that stupid canon is firing every god dam hour.”
“So, you are having a splendid time, I see. If you need anything.”
“…No, I don’t need anything. Was that all? How are things on your end?”
Could it be that he really just came here to annoy me?
“On my end, huh? Actually, it is going rather well. We have enough arrows stored to shoot all of them bastards twice. And if it keeps going like this, we will hold until everyone is back.”
“Doesn’t that worry you?”
“What?”
“That it is going so well. They attack this fort almost every year. I don’t believe they just like seeing their own men die again and again. They must have a plan, right?
“Of course, there is a plan. Currently, they are simply trying to exhaust us with constant bombardment. As for seeing their own men die, well, you see, many of them are slaves who are fighting for the right to be free. Not that many of them will get to be free; of course, they are always the first to die.”
“No, I mean, they have a massive army of undead with which they have been successful in pulling away our strongest forces. One of our strongest knights has changed sides. And now a ten-thousand-strong army is using our wall as target practice. It feels like too much effort for just another ’standard’ siege that ends nowhere. What if they are trying to distract us from…”
BOOOOOOOOOM
An explosion louder than any of the previous cannon shots reverberated through the entire castle. The shockwave created a billowing wall of dust that burst through the clinic window, breaking the thin glass. For a few seconds, everything was silent. Then Jack and I burst through the clinic door. Once out, we saw that a section of the outer wall had collapsed, leaving a steep pile of rocks behind.